Poll: Nearly half of Americans favor censure
But pollster Dick Bennett said Democratic leaders won't publicly back it until at least 60 percent of Americans support it.
By Scott Shepard
WASHINGTON BUREAU
Friday, March 17, 2006

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold's effort to censure President Bush has sent his fellow Democrats scurrying for political safety, but a poll released Thursday suggests nearly half of Americans favor such a move.

A poll by the nonpartisan American Research Group found that 46 percent of Americans support censuring Bush for authorizing wiretaps of Americans without obtaining court orders, as part of the administration's effort to fight terrorism.

But the pollster, Dick Bennett, said he does not expect the Democratic leadership to come out of the shadows until at least 60 percent of Americans support a censure.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, "the basic problem of the Democratic leadership has been their lack of political courage," Bennett said.

Other analysts said the Democrats are simply following one of the basics of political strategy: Stay out of the way as your opponents' problems mount.

"Right now, Democrats can do well by letting Republicans drown in their policy problems," said Darrell West, a Brown University professor and developer of the Web site, InsidePolitics.org. "However, by this fall, when voters tune into the campaign, the Democratic Party needs to show citizens . . . a positive vision for the future."

...Democrats appear to be making some progress... to end a dozen years of nearly uninterrupted Republican rule of Capitol Hill.

An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released Thursday showed 50 percent of Americans prefer a Democratic-controlled Congress, compared with 37 percent who want it to remain under the control of Republicans. "This sends shivers down the spine of Republicans," NBC Washington Bureau Chief and "Meet The Press" moderator Tim Russert said on the "Today" show.

If I recall accurately Keith Olbermann's comment on the same poll, he said he'd NEVER seen numbers like that.

The article from www.Truthout.org adds that while 42 percent of INDEPENDENTS support censure, 47% support impeachment.

"Independents are moving beyond Bush, which, in many ways, is the worst thing that can happen to a president," Bennett said. ..."he is becoming irrelevant to their lives," the American Research Group pollster added.

Speaking of numbers, how much longer will corporate media heads be able to characterize roughly half the population as fringe?